


Stay

by DrowningAmongWords



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, M/M, canon adjacent, supernatural season 14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15589641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrowningAmongWords/pseuds/DrowningAmongWords
Summary: Dean needs to fight to escape Michael’s manipulation. Can Castiel help him reject Michael’s grace?





	Stay

 

“Dean!” Cas yells, he wants to get through to him, he wants Dean to reject Michael.

“Dean!” Michael mocks, the holy oil fire flickering in Dean’s green eyes. But Dean, the real Dean was nowhere to be found. 

“Dean I need you to fight him, I need you to fight for us!” Sam shouts. 

Him and Jack were standing farther back, not wanting to face Michael close up. Not while he was using Dean’s body as a vessel. 

“Dean’s not home right now, he’s having a nice little vacation on a beach somewhere,” Michael says with a wicked grin, tilting his head, “Hawaii perhaps? I’m not sure, it’s quite interesting. I just sent him off to a happy place, that’s what he chose.”

“What do you mean? Sent him off?” Cas asks.

“Well, I’m the most powerful in this meatsuit, so naturally I want to stay in it. So I sent him off to his paradise so to speak.”

“But he must know that he’s trapped in his own mind,” Jack says, eyes narrowing at Michael, a slight yellow tint to them. His grace still hasn’t come back to full power, but when it does, he wants to rip Michael out of Dean himself.

“Oh no, Dean thinks his little world is real, he defeated Lucifer, I left, you four took off to an island.”

“Dean would never fall for that,” Sam says.

“It’s amazing what people will do to avoid the truth.”

***

“Hey Cas, do you wanna dip your toes in the water?” Dean asks, sitting up on his towel.

“Dean, you do know the last time I was in the water I was full of Leviathans and was basically dead right?” Cas says, looking over skeptically at Dean.

“Yes but you’re not chock full of monsters now, and besides, I can teach you to swim,” Dean offers, pushing himself to his feet and holding out a hand to Cas.

“Fine,” Cas grumbles, entwining his fingers with Dean’s and letting him pull him up from the ground. Cas begrudgingly follows Dean closer to the water. Dean only drops Cas’ hand to pull his shirt over his head, gesturing to Cas to do the same.

“If we’re just dipping our toes in, why would I take off my shirt?” Cas asks, his fingers fiddling with the edges of the AC/DC t-shirt Dean let him borrow.

“Because, if you fall in, you don’t want to get your shirt wet,” Dean insists and smiles as Cas follows through and pulls the shirt off.

Now, Dean’s seen Cas shirtless plenty of times. Like when he showed up on the Impala, naked and covered in bees. Or when he was dying in the barn, or when the Leviathans we’re eating through Cas’ body. But this was different. Dean could actually see Cas, see all of him. His body was relatively the same as it was ten years ago, it’s aged, which Dean didn’t quite get but he figured it had something to do with Jimmy’s soul no longer occupying the vessel. He was tan, a little darker than Dean, but not by much.

“Dean? Are we going to dip our toes in now?” Cas asks after he clears his throat, his eyes following Dean’s as they roamed back up to his face.

“Yeah, yeah, of course, let’s go.”

***

“Dean, if you can hear me, please, please come back to us. Don’t let Michael trick you any longer. You need to snap out of it,” Cas pleas. 

“It’ll never work Castiel. I’m an archangel, and well you, you’re a sad excuse for an angel, no wings, no faith, nothing.”

“You’re wrong,” Sam steps forward, wanting to defend Cas.

“It’s fine Sam,” Cas says, lifting a hand up to gesture for him to stop.

“We could stay here all day, nothing’s getting him out of his head.”

Cas thinks for a moment, he has an idea, but he’s never tried it before, never really believed it would work, thinking it was an old folk tale Gabriel told the other angels to make them look like idiots in front of God. 

But this was his last option. The only thing he can think of that might help save Dean. 

“Dean, if you can hear me, listen, please,” Cas prays, 

Gabriel would tell him that if an angel has a profound bound with a human, if a human is marked by an angel, they are able to communicate to each other through directed thoughts. Cas never believed Gabriel, never saw a human marked by an angel. Until he saved Dean from hell. Until he saw his scorching handprint on Dean’s bicep. 

****  
Dean managed to get Cas into knee-deep water, that’s probably as far as he would get him to go for today. 

“Come on Cas, we can go dry off if you want,” Dean says, turning back to Cas. His Cas is gone. Dean looks all around him, the beach is slowly fading, the water around him drying up. 

“Dean, if you can hear me, listen, please.”

It was Cas, just his voice, but it was him.

“Dean this isn’t real. Michael’s got you in a delusion, he’s still possessing you.”

“No, no, I’m just dreaming right now, you or Sam’ll wake me up soon and we’ll help those people from apocalypse world assimilate to our world. Jack’s lost some of his nephilim grace, but he’ll be fine. He’ll recharge and-.”

“No, Dean, listen to me. Look around you. What do you see?” 

Dean reluctantly listens to the angel and turns in a circle, he’s surrounding by nothing, nothing to his left and his right, nothing above him nor below him. Total emptiness. 

“Cas, what’s happening?” Dean asks, starting to panic.

“Dean, I need you to stay calm, it’s the only way you can expel Michael and survive.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed Cas, but this isn’t normal. I think I’m allowed to freak out a little.”

“Stop it Dean. I need you back. Sam does. Jack does. Mary does. You can’t stay trapped in your mind forever.”

“Okay, yeah, yeah, what do I do Cas?”

“You need to withdraw your consent, but Dean, I need to warn you, he’s going to try to stop you. He’s going to do everything in his power to stop you from saying ‘no’. But I need you to promise to fight him, fight him for us Dean, fight him for me.” 

“Okay, will you be here?”

“No, when you try to communicate with Michael, I can’t be here, he doesn’t know I’m talking to you right now. I trust you Dean. Good luck.”

“Cas? Cas?!” Dean calls, turning in circles again despite knowing Cas isn’t there with him. 

***

“Michael, what do you plan on doing to this world? Now that you have it, you’re in your one true vessel. You can do whatever you want. Once you get out of this holy fire that is,” Cas says, egging Michael on, distracting him, buying Dean time. 

“I’ve killed thousands of angels Castiel. I’m not afraid of you.” 

“I never said you should be afraid of me. You should be afraid of the guy whose meat suit you’re wearing.”

***

“Michael! Michael you bastard get out! You hear me? I want you out of my body! I’m taking away my consent!” Dean shouts into the darkness that surrounds him. 

There’s a loud ringing that makes him double over and cover his ears, followed by loud laughter. It was his own. 

“Oh Dean, you really think it’s going to be that easy? Why don’t you go back to that fantasy land of yours? Trust me, it’s much happier than what’s really going on.”

Dean blinks and the next thing he knows he’s lying on a blanket, hand holding another warm hand next to his, staring up at the night sky. 

“That’s the Aquarius constellation,” the voice points out. It’s Cas. The voice is Cas.

“Cas?” Dean asks, looking over at the man lying next to him.

“Yes Dean?” Cas asks, staring back into Dean’s eyes.

Dean frowns, forgetting what he was going to ask, forgetting that he was thrown into another dream by Michael.

“How did we get here?”

Cas laughs, low and deep, and Dean can feel his body rumble next to his.

“I think you might’ve had a little too much wine. You drove us here Dean.”

“I did? Huh, okay. Hey, I’m an Aquarius!”

“Yes, that’s why I pointed it out to you.”

“Right.”

“Dean?”

“Yes Cas?”

Cas doesn’t respond. Not verbally at least. Instead he lets go of Dean’s hand and straddles his hips, leaning down to kiss him.

Dean pushes back against Cas’ chest before he can, “woah, Cas, what’s happening here?”

Cas looks at him quizzically, “I’m trying to kiss my boyfriend.”

Dean frowns, boyfriend, since when was Cas his boyfriend? He shrugs, figuring it’s the alcohol and pulls Cas back down, wrapping his arms around his neck to kiss him. 

****

“Dean came so close to pushing me out. He’s stronger than he looks. Too bad I put him in a little dream. He’s having quite a bit of fun at the moment. I won’t share all of the dirty details, but Castiel, you are quite the kisser,” Michael says with a grin full of malice.

“What?” Sam and Jack ask at the same time.

“Oh, that’s right, you two don’t know. Dean and Cas here have been pining for each other for some time now. Quite sad seeing their story from Dean’s perspective. So much longing, yearning, need, want. But Dean here is too afraid to tell Cas. Doesn’t want to mess up their friendship. Doesn’t he sound like a teenage girl? Cas, why haven’t you told Dean how you feel?”

Cas knows he shouldn’t care. He shouldn’t be bothered by this. He shouldn’t feel the things he feels. But he does. And he feels angry. Angry that Michael is using Dean. Angry that Michael is sharing Dean’s secrets. Angry that he’s practically powerless against the archangel. 

***

“Dean, I need you to listen to me and I need you to listen to me really, really good. Can you hear me Dean?”

The slightly chapped but warm lips against his own vanish. The soft yet toned sides he was caressing were gone. 

“Dean?”

“Cas? Where are you? What’s happening to me Cas?” Dean’s sitting up now, looking around him, out into the pitch black of his mind.

“Michael is manipulating you Dean. I need you to be strong. I need you to resist him the next time he tries to put you into another dream. I need you to come back because there are things I need to tell you, things I want to do that I haven’t had the courage to. I need you Dean.”

“Cas? How do I fight him? I’m just a human!”

“Oh Dean, how can you think that? Your soul shines brighter than the stars. You just need to have a little faith in yourself.”

“Cas. I don’t think -.”

“Dean, I need to go. Please, trust me, you are more powerful than you know.”

“Cas, Cas wait!”

But there’s an unmeasurable silence now. The only thing making noise was Dean’s own heart, beating rapidly in his chest.

“Now Dean, that was very romantic and all, but why don’t you take it to the next level this time? Show Cas how much you love him,” his own voice echoes from the shadows.

“No! I won’t let you! I don’t want this!” Dean shouts, starting to run in the opposite direction of the voice, his voice. 

“Dean, you really think you can get away from me? We’re in your head. I’m everywhere and nowhere at once,” the voice is up close, whispering in his ear.

The darkness around him starts to fade but Dean fights it. 

“No, no, no! I won’t let you take them away from me! I’m not going to let you hurt my family!” 

He feels a warmth within himself, sees a flame flickering in his peripheral vision. 

“You can’t keep me away forever Dean, sooner or later, you will end up back here. Free will’s an illusion. Surely you should know that by now.” 

“Yeah yeah, I’ve heard this speech before, now get lost!” Dean screams, focusing all of his energy on casting Michael out. Saying ‘no’ over and over again until he feels a lump in his throat and he sees that he’s inside a circle of holy fire, Michael’s grace leaving his body. 

****

Dean’s screaming. He’s screaming ‘no’ over and over and he hasn’t stopped screaming, not until Michael’s glowing blue grace is leaving his body, rushing past the holy fire. Dean drops to the ground, gasping, eyes darting back and forth, blinking rapidly. 

“Dean, Dean, are you okay? Sam, get rid of the fire, quick!” Cas urges and Sam turns on the sprinklers in the bunker’s garage, exhausting the fire. Cas used his powers to dry them all immediately after the fire went out.

“Cas? Is that really you?” Dean asks as Cas rushes to his side, kneeling next to Dean, a hand gripping his shoulder tightly. 

“Yes, Dean, it’s me, really me. You did it, you got rid of Michael.”

“He’s gone?”

“He can’t get into your body anymore, not without your consent. You did it Dean.” Sam says, kneeling in front of Dean, Jack standing behind him.

“And you’re all you, the real you,” Dean says, afraid this was another one of Michael’s tricks.

“Yes, Dean, I promise,” Cas says, helping Dean to his feet.

“And that was you? Inside my head? Talking to me?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know angels could talk to humans like that. Communicate telepathically,” Sam butts in.

“Uh, well I didn’t either. Gabriel told us this old folks tale and nobody wanted to believe him, we thought he was lying to make us look dumb in front of our dad. But it seemed like the only option we had.”

“So you can talk to anyone like this?” Dean asks.

“No. Only a human that’s been, there’s no right way to say this, marked by that angel, I guess, is able to do that. I never tried it because I never believed Gabriel, but this was the only thing I could think of, the only thing that might save you.”

“Well you did it Cas, you saved me,” Dean says, patting Cas’ shoulder, about to start moving on his own when he collapsed. 

Cas grabbed him by the waist to stop him from dropping to the floor, “Dean, you need to save your strength. Michael took a toll on you. You need to rest, come on.”

Dean nods, too tired to argue. He let Cas guide him up the stairs from the garage into the bunker. Back towards the long hallway of rooms.

“Here,” Cas says, opening the door to Dean’s room with one hand, the other supporting Dean’s waist. He was warm to the touch. Not a comforting warm. A burning up, high fever kind of warm.

“Thanks Cas, where’d Sam go?” Dean asks as they walk into his room. 

“Sam’s going to call Mary,” Jack pipes up.

“Jack, do you mind joining him?” Dean asks, nodding towards the door. 

Jack nods, closing the door on his way out.

“I’ll get going too, did you need anything?” Cas says as he helps Dean sit on the bed.

“Cas, can we talk? Just for a little bit, need to talk to you about something.”

“Sure Dean, anything,” Cas responds, standing in front of Dean. 

“Did you, did you see my dreams? Or whatever they were? When you talked to me, in my mind?”

“No, I can’t see what you’re thinking, I can only communicate with you.”

“Oh, okay, that makes sense.”

“Why?”

“Nothing, doesn’t matter.”

“Dean, we don’t have to talk about this if we don’t want to,” Cas says, sitting next to Dean, keeping several inches between them. 

“It’s just, I can’t lose you again Cas. You’re, you’re everything to me, really. I mean, other than Sammy, you’ve been in my life for so damn long, you’ve been there for me no matter what, even when you probably shouldn’t’ve,” Dean laughs, burying his face in his hands. 

“Hey, I can say the same about you. Dean you trusted me when everyone else told you not to. When everything within you was telling you not to. You’ve done more than you can imagine for me, I really hope you come to realize that.”

“I do Cas, it’s just hard for me to completely wrap my head around it all.”

“Around what?” 

Dean drops his hands, letting himself look Cas in the eyes, “someone caring about me, unconditionally, without hesitation and not because we’re blood and because we have to, but because you want to.”

“Dean, I’ll always care about you, I’ll always be there for you.”

“Anyways, I’m gonna get some shut eye,” Dean says, smiling at Cas before pushing the covers down and crawling into his bed. 

Cas stands, giving Dean a quick glance before swiftly moving towards the door.

“Stay,” Dean whispers, so softly that if it was anyone else, a human, they wouldn’t have heard him.

But Cas did. Of course Cas did. He pauses in his tracks, slowly turning and glancing at Dean. He was curled underneath the blankets, his face buried in the pillow, back facing Cas. He allows himself to scoot closer to the edge of his somewhat small bed to accommodate Cas. Cas hesitates until Dean’s arm comes reaching out under the covers to grab at him. He slips off his shoes and slides in next to Dean, leaving as much space as he could between them, unsure of what Dean wants.

Dean huffs and reaches back, grabbing Cas’ tie to pull him closer until his back was resting against Cas’ chest. 

“I’ll stay,” Cas whispers, letting an arm wrap around Dean’s waist and smiles, “as long as you want.”

“Forever,” Dean mumbles. 

“Forever then.”


End file.
